Shakespeare’s sonnets are lively reflections on love and time, these two themes seem to be the principal themes of Shakespeare’s sonnets and he returns to them again and again each time exploring them in a lively and personal matter. The theme of love and time are two themes that are timeless and still today, appeal to the modern reader. Shakespeare reveals how nerve wracking a relationship can be, but he also shows how love is ultimately the answer to life’s troubles and woes. Chief among these woes is the passage of time. No other poet has so vividly described the passage of time and the horror that this can inspire. Shakespeare reflected on this throughout most of his sonnets, trying desperately to find a way to counter time’s destructive passage. Ultimately, love is pitted against time and in the sonnets there is always a lively battle and a question hanging over which will prevail. Throughout my study of Shakespeare’s sonnets I studied sonnet 18, 65, and 116 each of these sonnets had a timeless quality to them. In the opening line of Sonnet 18 (‘shall I compare thee’) Shakespeare asks a question ‘shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” the poet is considering writing a poem that compares his loved one to a fine day in the summer time. Immediately we recognise that this is a subjective poem as he addresses his loved one directly. The first quatrain is filled with sibilant s-sounds enhancing the notion of a beautiful summer’s day. However Shakespeare decides that this is not an appropriate comparison as “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” the repetition of “more” accentuates the depth of feeling. It is interesting to note that while positive images abound in the poem “summer’s day” “darling buds” Shakespeare juxtaposes these images with negative ideas “rough winds” “all to short a date”. Here Shakespeare focuses on the ageing process of the human being, an idea that obsessed him. In the second quatrain Shakespeare emphasises how time is a destroyer “And every fair from fair sometime declines”. This line means that everything fair or beautiful in the world must sometimes “decline” as beauty slips away. The brevity of life is a theme that pervades all of his sonnets and it is counteracted by his determination to preserve the memory of his loved one. Shakespeare’s obsession is what adds a timeless quality to his sonnets as in today’s society the majority of people are obsessed and are trying to counteract the decline of the human being with age. Throughout the second quatrain there is also a lot of assonance which is used to slow down the pace of the poem along with a series of pauses “too hot” “gold complexion”. Shakespeare now personifies the sun “the eye of heaven” “his complexion” this is a notable image as the image of the sun’s “eye” looking down on the world and its complexion “being dimmed” by cloud cover is memorable. Again, Shakespeare focuses on the aging process through words like “dimmed”. Throughout the first and second quatrain Shakespeare has been dismissing a conventional image of perfection as inadequate. In a confidently dismissive tone he clearly argued why he shall not compare his loved one to a summer’s day. The beginning of the third quatrain has a new and justified confidence. A summer’s day will come to an end and therefore is an inadequate image but Shakespeare has discovered a means of conferring immorality upon his loved one “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” “but” marks a new found tone, a tone of conviction, the poet seems absolutely convinced that his lines will be “eternal”. The word “eternal” is a crucial contrast with the rest of the poem up to this point as all previous mention of time has been concerned with its transient nature. Now the passing of time will make possible growth, but not decline. The “eternal lines” of the poem will live, as Shakespeare tells us in the final couplet “So long as men can breathe or...

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Shakespeare’ssonnets
The author and the period:
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright. His extant works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into most of the...

...Shakespeare'sSonnet 116
Information about the life of William Shakespeare is often open to doubt. Some even doubt whether he wrote all plays ascribed to him. From the best available sources it seems William Shakespeare was born in Stratford on about April 23rd 1564. His father William was a successful local businessman and his mother Mary was the daughter of a landowner. Relatively prosperous, it is likely the family paid for Williams education, although there...

...Shakespeare'sSonnets
In this essay I will describe the themes of Shakespeare'ssonnets, the structure and the imagery in the sonnets. The main themes of the sonnets are love, beauty, mutability and death. The sonnets are almost all constructed from three four-line stanzas and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg, this is the structure of most...

...Shakespeare'ssonnets are often considered by the public to be the most beautifully expressed poetry of all time. Shakespeare uses many techniques to illustrate his poetry, but none of them are more effective than his use of imagery. Sonnet's 18 and 73 are excellent examples. Shakespeare's imagery and metaphors are significant in conveying the theme of the poem as it helps to establish the dramatic atmosphere of the poem and reinforce his argument....

...Compare and Contrast Sonnet 18 and
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
In this essay I am going to highlight the comparisons and contrasts between William Shakespeare’sSonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 and also give my opinions.
A similarity between the two poems is that they are both about a man’s love for a woman.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:...

...Shakespeare’ssonnets
* Form and Structure
14 lines
It is divided into 3 quadrants, four lines each and ends with a couple, of two lines
The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef,gg
The sonnet develops its ideas, or argument, in stages- one idea in each of the three quadrants. Each quadrant introduces a different aspect of the overall argument.
The rhythm of a Shakespearean sonnet is known as Iambic Pentameter.
This is a...

...Shakespeare’sSonnet 116
I chose this poem somewhat at random since I felt that the main point of this assignment was to read a poem and interpret it for ourselves with no influence from others. I think the most disputable, if not confusing, aspect of this poem to me was whom it was addressed to. It sounded to me like it was either self-reflection about what love is, or perhaps more likely advice to another person about love.
I would like to...

...Shakespeare's poems are the monument of a remarkable genius but they are also the monuments of a remarkable age. The greatness of Shakespeare's achievement was largely made possible by the work of his immediate predecessors, Sidney and Spenser.
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<br>Shakespeare'ssonnets are intensely personal and are records of his hopes and fears, love and friendships, infatuations and disillusions that in turn acquire a universal...